22 Bible Verses about Loving Your Enemies

But I command you all, love your enemies, and pray for your persecutors;

bless those who curse you; pray for those who revile you.

Everything, therefore, be it what it may, that you would have men do to you, do you also the same to them; for in this the Law and the Prophets are summed up.

Dear friends, let us love one another; for love has its origin in God, and every one who loves has become a child of God and is beginning to know God.

Invoke blessings on your persecutors--blessings, not curses. Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep. Have full sympathy with one another. Do not give your mind to high things, but let humble ways content you. Do not be wise in your own conceits.read more.
Pay back to no man evil for evil. Take thought for what is right and seemly in every one's esteem. If you can, so far as it depends on you, live at peace with all the world. Do not be revengeful, my dear friends, but give way before anger; for it is written, "'Revenge belongs to Me: I will pay back,' says the Lord." On the contrary, therefore, if your enemy is hungry, give him food; if he is thirsty, quench his thirst. For by doing this you will be heaping burning coals upon his head. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome the evil with goodness.

Nevertheless love your enemies, be beneficent; and lend without hoping for any repayment. Then your recompense shall be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.

Let all that you do be done from motives of love.

Dear children, I am still with you a little longer. You will seek me, but, as I said to the Jews, 'Where I am going you cannot come,' so for the present I say to you. A new commandment I give you, to love one another; that as I have loved you, you also may love one another. It is by this that every one will know that you are my disciples--if you love one another."

If I can speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but am destitute of Love, I have but become a loud-sounding trumpet or a clanging cymbal. If I possess the gift of prophecy and am versed in all mysteries and all knowledge, and have such absolute faith that I can remove mountains, but am destitute of Love, I am nothing. And if I distribute all my possessions to the poor, and give up my body to be burned, but am destitute of Love, it profits me nothing.read more.
Love is patient and kind. Love knows neither envy nor jealousy. Love is not forward and self-assertive, nor boastful and conceited. She does not behave unbecomingly, nor seek to aggrandize herself, nor blaze out in passionate anger, nor brood over wrongs. She finds no pleasure in injustice done to others, but joyfully sides with the truth. She knows how to be silent. She is full of trust, full of hope, full of patient endurance. Love never fails. But if there are prophecies, they will be done away with; if there are languages, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be brought to an end.

Let your love be perfectly sincere. Regard with horror what is evil; cling to what is right. As for brotherly love, be affectionate to one another; in matters of worldly honour, yield to one another. Do not be indolent when zeal is required. Be thoroughly warm-hearted, the Lord's own servants,

"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. "Blessed are the peacemakers, for it is they who will be recognized as sons of God. "Blessed are those who have borne persecution in the cause of Righteousness, for to them belongs the Kingdom of the Heavens.read more.
"Blessed are you when they have insulted and persecuted you, and have said every cruel thing about you falsely for my sake. Be joyful and triumphant, because your reward is great in the Heavens; for so were the Prophets before you persecuted.

but those who stand firm to the End shall be saved.

"Go," He replied, "and take this message to that fox: "'See, to-day and to-morrow I am driving out demons and effecting cures, and on the third day I finish my course.' "Yet I must continue my journey to-day and to-morrow and the day following; for it is not conceivable that a Prophet should perish outside of Jerusalem. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou who murderest the Prophets and stonest those who have been sent to thee, how often have I desired to gather thy children just as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not come!read more.
See, your house is left to you. But I tell you that you will never see me again until you say, 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!'"

But Jesus turned towards them and said, "Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For a time is coming when they will say, 'Blessed are the women who never bore children, and the breasts which have never given nourishment.' Then will they begin to say to the mountains, 'Fall on us;' and to the hills, 'Cover us.'read more.
For if they are doing these things in the case of the green tree, what will be done in that of the dry?" They brought also two others, criminals, to put them to death with Him. When they reached the place called 'The Skull,' there they nailed Him to the cross, and the criminals also, one at His right hand and one at His left. Jesus prayed, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they are doing." And they divided His garments among them, drawing lots for them; and the people stood looking on. The Rulers, too, repeatedly uttered their bitter taunts. "This fellow," they said, "saved others: let him save himself, if he is God's Anointed, the Chosen One." And the soldiers also made sport of Him, coming and offering Him sour wine and saying, "Are *you* the King of the Jews? Save yourself, then!"

Which of the Prophets did not your forefathers persecute? Yes, they killed those who announced beforehand the advent of the righteous One, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become-- you who received the Law given through angels, and yet have not obeyed it." As they listened to these words, they became infuriated and gnashed their teeth at him.read more.
But, full of the Holy Spirit and looking up to Heaven, Stephen saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at God's right hand. "I can see Heaven wide open," he said, "and the Son of Man standing at God's right hand." Upon this, with a loud outcry they stopped their ears, rushed upon Stephen in a body, dragged him out of the city, and stoned him, the witnesses throwing off their outer garments and giving them into the care of a young man called Saul. So they stoned Stephen, while he prayed, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." Then, rising on his knees, he cried aloud, "Lord, do not reckon this sin against them." And with these words he fell asleep.

Brethren, I do not imagine that I have yet laid hold of it. But this one thing I do--forgetting everything which is past and stretching forward to what lies in front of me, with my eyes fixed on the goal I push on to secure the prize of God's heavenward call in Christ Jesus.

If however you have risen with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, enthroned at God's right hand. Give your minds to the things that are above, not to the things that are on the earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.read more.
When Christ appears--He is our true Life--then you also will appear with Him in glory.

Reckon it nothing but joy, my brethren, whenever you find yourselves hedged in by various trials. Be assured that the testing of your faith leads to power of endurance. Only let endurance have perfect results so that you may become perfect and complete, deficient in nothing.read more.
And if any one of you is deficient in wisdom, let him ask God for it, who gives with open hand to all men, and without upbraiding; and it will be given him.

that so you may become true sons of your Father in Heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the wicked as well as the good, and sends rain upon those who do right and those who do wrong.

"You have heard that it was said, 'Thou shalt love thy neighbour and hate thine enemy.'

"You have heard that it was said, 'Thou shalt love thy neighbour and hate thine enemy.' But I command you all, love your enemies, and pray for your persecutors; that so you may become true sons of your Father in Heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the wicked as well as the good, and sends rain upon those who do right and those who do wrong.read more.
For if you love only those who love you, what reward have you earned? Do not even the tax-gatherers do that? And if you salute only your near relatives, what praise is due to you? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? You however are to be complete in goodness, as your Heavenly Father is complete.

"But to you who are listening to me I say, Love your enemies; seek the welfare of those who hate you; bless those who curse you; pray for those who revile you. To him who gives you a blow on one side of the face offer the other side also; and to him who is robbing you of your outer garment refuse not the under one also.read more.
To every one who asks, give; and from him who takes away your property, do not demand it back. And behave to your fellow men just as you would have them behave to you. "If you love those who love you, what credit is it to you? Why, even bad men love those who love them. And if you are kind to those who are kind to you, what credit is it to you? Even bad men act thus. And if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is it to you? Even bad men lend to their fellows so as to receive back an equal amount. Nevertheless love your enemies, be beneficent; and lend without hoping for any repayment. Then your recompense shall be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be compassionate just as your Father is compassionate.